Court officials estimate Rodriguez defense to cost nearly $1 million

Fargo, N.D. (AP) Federal court officials in Fargo estimate it cost taxpayers nearly one (m) million-dollars to jail and defend Alfonso Rodriguez Junior.

A federal court jury decided Friday that the 53-year-old Rodriguez, of Crookston, Minnesota, should be sentenced to death for the killing of college student Dru Sjodin (shuh-DEEN').

The federal clerk's office says defense costs totaled 905-thousand-dollars from the time Rodriguez was indicted through last Thursday.

That includes about 712-thousand-500-dollars in attorney fees.

The federal Marshals Service says Rodriguez' jail cell in Fargo cost about 84-thousand-dollars since his indictment.

The figures don't include the costs of Rodriguez's stay at the Grand Forks County Jail or his defense while facing state charges earlier.

His attorney, Richard Ney, says his firm lost money on the case.

Ney says prosecutors usually spend more money than the defense in death penalty cases. He says prosecutors in the Rodriguez case spent more than 100-thousand-dollars for psychiatrists.

U-S Attorney Drew Wrigley says his office spent up to 25-thousand-dollars for state experts, but he says local and state agencies paid for most of the investigative work before the case got to federal court.

Wrigley says his expenses are fixed. He says the defense bill was much greater.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 09-26-06 0722CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list